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NEW JERSEY FOR THE UNION. 



SPEECH 



OF 



HON. JAMES I. SCOVEL, 

SENATOR FROM CAMDEN, 

UPON THE 

Bill Prohibiting the Enlistment of Negro Troops in New Jersey, 

Uiiiier a Penalty of $500, or Imprisonvient for Five Tears. 

DELIVERED MARCH IG, 1804. 



'\m^ 



TRENTON: 

MURPHY & BECHTEL, PRINTERS, OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL,. 

1864. 



^, t)^ 



<J 



I DEDICATE 

THIS SPEECH TO THE PATRIOTIC 

PKESIDENT OF A FREE PEOPLE, OP WHOM 

IT HAS BEEN SAID, WITH JUSTNESS AND TRUTH : " IP 

(5E0RGE WASHINGTON MADE THE REPUBLIC, 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAVED IT.'' 

J. M. S. 



NEW JERSEY FOR THE DNION. 



Mr. President : — A year ago I stood in the lower 
House of this Legislature, in opposition to the peace 
resolutions offered and advocated by a majority of the 
Senators upon this floor. These resolutions sought to 
purchase peace at the price of our national honor. 
These resolutions, about which the dominant party in 
the Senate have observed a silence at once ominous and 
remarkable, united the morality of Louis J^apoleon with 
the language of Machiavelli. They trifled with the con- 
science of the State as the rebellion has sought to trifle 
with the conscience of the nation ; for when Chief Jus- 
tice Taney announced from the highest court in the land 
that the everlastino^ curse of human bondage was the 
supreme law, before which absolute justice must bend 
and break, then the great popular heart stirred to its 
depth, and conscience, with so delicate a voice that it is 
often stifled, spoke in so clear a tone that its accents 
could neither be mistaken nor its mandates disobeyed. 

Some of us came up slowly to the help of the Lord 
against the mighty. Mental servitude had become an 
attribute of the North as much as bodily servitude was 
the institution of the South, till, with as much wit as 
truth, a son of New England said, replying to Daniel 
Webster, " Yes, there is no North ; it is the South all the 
way up to Canada /" 

Soon it permeated the minds of the people that when 
a Chief Justice said, in the latitude of "Washington city, 
"that a negro had no rights which a white man was 
bound to respect," the true intent and meaning of such 
language in the atmosi»here of Charleston was, that " no 
ISTorthern mudsill has any riij^ht which a Southern ffen- 
tleman is bound to respect." Then the shotted guns of 
Sumter opened, while manhood and moral courage took 



the place in the mind and heart of the American people, 
of concession and pusillanimity. 

We have refused allegiance to our principles : we 
have refused to pay the price of national honor and vir- 
tue ; and we are sued in the courts of destiny, and the 
case is this day on trial. And I need not speak of the 
eagerness with which the eyes of Europe are turned 
towards America — that land which a distinguished Eng- 
lishman says "privilege every morning, witli blatant 
breath, begins to curse because it dares to be prosperous 
and happy without a monarchy, without an aristocracy, 
and without a priesthood, who are the licensed venders 
of salvation wrought by love." 

Mr. Speaker, I confess the hesitation with which I ap- 
proach the discussion of this bill, which is now before 
the Senate. My only desire is to proclaim those senti- 
ments of future policy which I believe are intimately 
connected with the future glory of our country. And, 
Sir, I trust that I belong to that class who believe the 
greatest glory of a free man is to be a good citizen. 
And a good citizen prefers liberty to luxury, and honor 
to profit. He holds that, next to dying for one's country, 
the greatest glory is to live for her interest and her 
honor. I have no aspirations, no ambitions, which do 
not go forward in longing for that peace which shall 
dawn upon the end of this terrible and righteous war, a 
peace which, in the language of Abraham Lincoln, " I 
hope may come soon, and when it does come will come 
to stay, and will be worth the keeping." 

Whenever I look upon that flag. Sir, with every im- 
pulse of my heart there rises a sentiment of afliection 
and of honor. I know that God has given the country 
to men who can defend it, and to women who, in its ser- 
vice, consent to the sacrifice of their husbands, their 
brothers and their sons. And the man, whoever he is, 
and whatever place he may fill, who will not protect and 
defend the laud that gave him birth, is a dastard and a 
coward. 

The bill before the Senate, Mr. President, is entitled 
^' An act to regulate the appropriation of moneys raised 



5 

by the authority of this State, for war purposes." I 
frankly confess that I ditfer from my honorable friend, 
the Senator from Union (Mr. Jenkins), in the views he 
entertains for the causes and of the conduct of the war. 
General sagacity and uprightness cannot contend against 
the prejudices among which a man is born, which are 
the breath of liis nostrils to him. As God has no attri- 
bute which sides with the oppressor, so man ennobles 
himself by becoming the advocate of the oppressed. 
Bishop Hopkins may thunder in a small way to a very 
select audience that slavery is a divine institution, and 
compel his auditors to bow down to the narrowest in- 
terpretation of individual texts. But the heart relying 
on the spirit of Scripture still whispers what every grand 
thinker the world has ever produced boldly proclaims — 
that all men everywhere ought to be free. 

You cannot make science utter a lie in the face of the 
universe, and declare that the sun moves round the 
earth and the earth stands still. The terrors of the In- 
quisition are nothing, and (Tallilio whispers '■'■ JS jmv si 
rmwrc." It docs move, ihungJi,. 

Aye ! And New Jersey moves. Only a year ago we 
were threatened with revolution in the North if a single 
soldier who was not a white citizen should enlist and 
fight against "slavery in arms." And now a single 
township in the county of Warren has paid ten thou- 
sand dollars for bounties to colored soldiers ; and not 
less than three thousand black soldiers have left New 
Jersey to revenge their slaughtered brothers at Wagner, 
Port Hudson and at Vicksburg. Aye ! Even New Jer- 
sey moves. 

Never again will an insolent n\ajority on bended knees 
supplicate for peace, and herald to all the world that this 
war for law, for liberty and for humanity is " causeless 
in its origin, and dangerous to the liberties of the peo- 
ple."* Never again will men oft'er upon the floor of this 
Senate to join any of the sister States of the Unioii to 
carry into practical effect a war upon the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

* Pcaco Rosolution No. ;t. 



8o wide spread and so thorougli was the delusion in 
this re2;ard in the reninaut of the Democratic party, that 
they unconsciously became the apologists and defenders 
of human bondage and its villainies. 

We tind the present Executive of this State declaring, 
in his inaugural address, (page 14, 1863): "We are told 
that the belief that slavery is the cause of the war, and 
that the war can never cease and the life of the nation 
be preserved until slavery be abolished, has lead to a de- 
parture from the original purpose of the war. This is 
the radical error of the Emancipationists. Slaceri/ is no more 
the cause of the var than gold is the cause of robbery and 
murder.'' 

Compare this with the avowal of Alexander H. Ste- 
phens, the associate of Jefierson Davis, in a speech de- 
livered in Savannah, on the 21st of March, 1861. He 
says : " The new Constitution has put to rest forever all 
the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institu- 
tions. African, slavery., as it exists among 2is, is the prop(r 
status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was 

THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE LATE RUPTURE AND THE 

PRESENT REVOLUTION." Between such eminent advo- 
cates of slavery as the Governor of New Jersey and the 
Vice President of a moribund Confederacy, who shall 
decide ? 

Outside of this State, and excepting the city of New 
York, I do not know where it is seriously contended 
that "abolitionism and secessionism " w^ere the cause of 
the war. Yet such was the opinion deliberately ex- 
pressed by Joel Parker in his inaugural address in 1863, 
and boldly avowed in his annual message of January 
12th, 1864. He thinks, too, that if the policy of eman- 
cipation had not been inaugurated, the nu^ss of the peo- 
ple in some of the Southern States would have " sup- 
planted their rulers and returned to their allegiance." 
A greater fallacy was never uttered. Let Maryland and 
Missouri and Arkansas answer, where you cannot tind 
any fugitive slaves, but where fugitive masters aliound. 
There, where wisdom has been born of this terrible con- 
test, they hold that slavery, like Achan's wedge of gold, 



i^ an accursed thing, rind they o-Jadly tear down the rehcl 
banner and run up "our beautiful flag." 

But in Kentucky, where neutrality prevailed, — and 
neutrality in a struggle between freedom and barbarism 
is a monstrosity, — where neutrality prevailed, Ave now 
find Governor Bramlette threatening to resist the enlist- 
ment of negroes as soldiers. Kentucky answers New 
Jersey wdiile South Carolina applauds ! 

And I venture the assertion that outside the rebel 
lines there is no Legislature that dares to defy the 
Federal Government by passing so iniquitous a measure 
as the one under consideration, unless it be the Legisla- 
ture of the State of New Jersey. No man wdiose heart 
is with his country can read the bill without condemning 
it. It provides, "That from and after the passage of the 
act it shall not be lawful for any part of the moneys now 
raised, or which may be hereafter raised for w-ar pur- 
poses, to be used for the employment of negroes as sol- 
diers ; and any one oftlsnding against the provisions of 
this act shall, for each and every oftence, upon convic- 
tion, be subject to a fine of not less than five hundred 
dollars, and imprisonment for a term of not less than 
five years." 

And I would be glad to know whether this bill meets 
the approval of the Governoi- of New Jersey. When 
such a measure was proposed for the county of Union, 
I said that the policy of negro enlistment under the 
laws of the United States had met the sanction of the 
Executive of this State. I was glad to credit him with 
sustaining the Government after his own tashion. I ap- 
preciate the social virtues of Joel Parker, but I am not 
bound to admire that easy political virtue which writes a 
sympathizing letter to a Vallandigham meeting, declares 
against the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and 
says, in the face of a popular majority of nearly two 
hundred thousand, that the Proclamation of Knuuicipa- 
tion is a mistake, intimates that it is unconstitutional, 
and ends by declaring it an " obstacle in the w\ay of 
peace." Sir! We have had too much of this style of 
supporting the CJovernment. 



New Jersey, to-day, is full of Union men with Con- 
federate principles. Like the Cavaliers in the days of 
the Pretender, they hold their wine glasses ahove their 
water glasses, and drink "to the King" — over the water. 
They say, (these half-hearted Union men), 

'■ God bless the King, God bless the faith's defender. 
The Devil take the Pope and the Pretender; 
But who the Pretender is, and who King, — 
God bless us all, — is quite another tiling." 

I charge now, as I have charged before, that the Gov- 
ernor of New Jersey was elected in the interest of slavery, 
and that Democracy, as officered and manned in New 
Jersey, is in sympathy with treason and rebellion. 

If you decorate your Senate Chamber with an Ameri- 
can flag, a State flag must be elevated beside it. The 
doctrine of State rights, a political falsehood, and a de- 
lusion, is boldly proclaimed as part of the new gospel of 
peace. Three weeks since, the Senator from Bergen 
(Mr. Holsman) declared himself in favor of a vigorous 
prosecution of the war, and I congratulated the Senate 
that since he was in favor, now, of a war with white 
men, in the next year he would be eloquently for carry- 
ing the war into Africa, ivith Africans. But, Sir, the 
Peace Committee met at the New York Hotel, on the 
22d day of February, desecrating the anniversary day 
that gave birth to George Washington, and since then 
the Senator from Bergen, in almost the identical lan- 
guage of the pronunciamento of the Rebel Congress, 
declares that he is now, and has been since the flring 
upon Fort Sumter, against the war. My accusation 
against "Democracy as it is," hath this extent. It is 
without honest purpose or principle. If it pretends to 
be for the war in Pennsylvania, it is for peace in New 
Jersey. And when General Lee was marching through 
the beautiful and fertile valley of the Cumberland up to 
Harrisburg, the Democratic party was joyously assem- 
bling in the State Capital of Pennsylvania, to nominate 
George II. Woodward, who said " it was a sin to think 
against slavery," and that the time must come when the 
South could fall back upon her natural rights, and use 



9 

all the means she possessed, or could command, in de- 
fence of her soil. No wonder that General Lee hastened 
to ratify a nomination so opportunely made ! No won- 
der a single voice was not raised in that convention 
which found the latitude of Ilarrishurg suggestive of 
shot and shell. And it is not singular that a retired 
Major General, in the U. S. Army, who would make a 
"capital engineer for a stationary power," wrote his dis- 
tinguished considerations on the eve of a most signifi- 
cant election, to Mr. Woodward, who believed that 
" slavery was a blessing !" 

And, while this subject is in my memory, let me say 
that the saddest sight that my eyes ever beheld was the 
sight of the weary thousands who thronged the bridge 
across the Susquehanna, on the 19th day of June, in the 
year of grace 1863; old men, tender women and help- 
less children, for the first time in their lives aliens to 
their hearths and homesteads, they had gathered together 
their household Gods, and sought shelter from the 
Goths and Vandals of barbarism — sought shelter and 
protection on the peaceful banks of the Juniata. The 
recollections of these scenes can never be effaced, and 
till they have passed from my mind, let no more ask me 
to pause in my efforts to point to my countrymen the 
perils which threaten the republic. One of the finest 
passages in Roman history tells us that after the battle 
of Cannae, when disaster and defeat had followed the 
Roman general, the Senate went beyond the walls of 
the imperial city to thank their general that he had not 
despaired of the republic. 

To that man who would stop the victorious banners 
of the armies of the Union, by cavilling at the procla- 
mation of emancipation, I would answer that it was six 
months after the head of the nation had invoked the 
^'considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious 
favor of Almighty God," on that proclamation, before — 
standing by the unnumbered graves of our dead in the 
nation's cemetery — we could say, " of the two great 
efforts to enslave the English race in body and mind, 



10 

the first met its grave at Marston Moor, the second at 
Gettyshurg." 

But to return to the political decline and fall of New 
Jersey. In 1849 both Houses of this Legislature, by 
joint resolution, declared slavery to be an evil, and in- 
structed our Senators and Representatives in Congress 
to vote against the extension of human bondage in the 
Territories. (Pamp. Laws, p. 334, 1849.) But soon the 
leading politicians who represented the dominant power 
became — by social ties, or by the powerful intluence of 
interest — wedded to the cause of slavery. New Jersey 
became pro-slavery in sentiment, or at least, the domi- 
nant party were for slavery rather than for the Union. 

It sent Senators to Congress who defended the institu- 
tion. It sent members to the lower House who wor- 
shipped at the shrine of Jefferson Davis — then, as now, 
the leading spirit of Southern aggression. 

A monster monopoly, which subsidized newspapers, 
and treated the consciences of legislators as a merchant- 
able article — a corrupt corporation, which may yet learn 
that " corruption win not more than honesty " — aided 
and abetted this spirit of pro-slavery fanaticism. A man 
who was for liberty, and against the despotism of men 
who called themselves the " master race," was ostracised 
in private and in public life. 

It was during the time when .James Buchanan made 
Lecompton a test. He and his viceroys made power 
tyranny, and they made tyranny contemptible. I then 
felt as I now feel — that obedience to such behests was a 
crime. 

I declared in 1858 that if the creed of Buchanlin on 
the Kansas question became the policy of New Jersey, 
and in the country', the Democratic party would become 
a political and moral abomination. 

The money power and the slave power triumphed, and 
controlled the Democracy in the district in which 1 re- 
sided. The Kansas candidate, who believed in Buchanan, 
was nominated and defeated. 

I said, in the Philadclidiia Press of October 19, 1858: 
"The man who irf chosen to bear the Democi'atic stand- 



11 

ard this fall inust betul to the aiiti-Leeompton senti- 
ment; i\\e pr'mciplc will not bend to him, and no shifting- 
or truckling on that question will satisfv the people or- 
subdue the voters of the First District, and woe l)e to the • 
candidate for Congressional honors ^vho has already 
pledged himself against the double dealing of a treach- 
erous Administration and has then turned back." 

From that day to this I have been in undying liostility 
to that sort of Democracy which liates liberty, loves 
slavery, and would rather celebrate the funeral rites of 
constitutional liberty amid the incantations and orgies of' 
Secession and Rebellion, than see the triumphant adr- 
vance of civilization which strikes the shackels from the 
Slave and tells the oppressed to g© free. 

Since 1860 the history of New" Jersey has been writteu 
so that all the world has read it. I yield, Sir, to no Sen- 
ator on this tloor in regard for the honor of New Jersey 
— dearer to me than life itself. For her I have labored, 
for her I have made sacrifices wdiich it does not become 
me here to narrate, and for her future destiny I shall do 
battle with my latest breath, hoping — aye, and praying — 
that she may yet be free. But, Sir, and I say it with 
shame, the political history of this State for three years 
is one of which no patriot can be proud, save as its 
darker lines are made glorious and lustrous bv the 
deathless courage of New Jersey soldiers, who have 
made crimson on ever}' battle tield from Roanoke to Get- 
tysburg, with their blood, the banner of victory. 

Mr. President, I am charged with being political^ 
rather than argumentative. But, Sir, this is a political 
(question; it is a cai)ital cause we are trying. The na- 
tion is on trial for its life. The J^emocratic party has 
already lieen tried and condemned. Has it anything to 
say why sentence of fleath should not be pronouncedl 
against it ? I pause for a reply. Who are its advocates? 
Is it the sage of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson — a Vir- 
ginian when Virginia was the mother of Presidents, and 
not the grave of Northern patriots? No, AYho is it,, 
then, who cometh with dyed garments to defend " De- 



12 

niocracy as it is?" Ah ! Now T behold the melancholy 
procession ! At its head I do not iind the sage of Mon- 
ticello, or the " War Horse of the Herniita<»-e," but 1 
behold Ohanncey Burr, the Senator from J5ergen (Mr. 
Holsman)jtn(l David Naar ! 

And now, Sir, a few words upon this measure, which 
I understand has the sanction of the Democratic caucus, 
•and I have (h)ne. I oppose the bill because — 

JFlrs^l — It contravenes the laws of Congress. 

•Second — Because it is against public policy and against 
the rights of maidvind. 

The laws of Congress passed in and since the year 
1862 authorize the President to enroll, arm, ecpiip, and 
to receive into the; land and naval service of the United 
States such number of volunteei's of African tlescent as 
lie may deem useful to suppress the present rebellion, 
for such term as he may prescribe. 

Under and b}- virtue of these several acts of Congress, 
as I am informed by the chairman of the Military Com- 
mittee of the United States, 80,000 colored men, many 
of whom were once slaves and are now freedmen, are 
unlisted in the armies of the Union. At least 30,0Q0 
more of these despised Africans, al)out whom the ma- 
jority of the Senate talk so much and care so little, are 
employed by the Government, though they do not Avear 
a soldier's uniform. These black men carry a flag which 
is the symbol of nationality, of power and of liberty, 
and they have never disgraced it. It is, then, the settled 
;policy of the United States Government to employ black 
-soldiers. The experiment has been made under the 
laws of Congress. Ft has succeeded. 

And now I suppose the Legislature of ISTew Jersey 
sends greeting to the War Department, with instructions 
to desist from enlisting, under a penalty (for citizens of 
this State) of " a fine not less than |)500, or imprison- 
ment for a term of not less than five years." I am 
pleased to be able to state that Democracy Avith Edwin 
M. Stanton does not mean "strategy and peace," but 
means "fidelity to one's country." The pi-ospect, there- 



13 

fore, of impressing the peculiar views of a niajority of 
this House in that quarter is quite slender. 

The object of this bill is either to deceive the people 
or to embarrass the government. If to deceive the peo- 
ple, it is not a new game which is now played for the 
first time ; if to embarrass the Government, it is only a 
new foe with an old face, for the election of Horatio 
Seymour on a war platform was soon made the occasion 
for organizing an armed mob, who declared for peace in 
the city of New York witli torch and sword ! 

Let there be sincerity between us. The South began 
this war in the interest of slavery. We began the war 
for the Union ; we carry it on for tlie Union ; and we 
will end it by subduing the rebellion, and ])y subjugating 
tbe ',' fugitive masters" in the South. The war for us is 
necessarily and justly in the interest of Freedom, for 
Slavery is the lion in the way. God binds up the na- 
tion's wounds with emancipation. The Constitution wa» 
meant to '-'■ secure liberty,'" not to protect slavery. 

No principle of law is plainer than the one whicli 
denies to a State the power to pass laws in conflict witli 
tlie lav/s of the United States ; and this bill practically 
raises the banner of resistance, because it resists the law 
of the Federal Government; and I am glad that the 
Senator from Union (Mr. Jenkins) abjures the political 
heresy of State Rights. Perhaps we can meet on friendly 
grounds, as I learn he was once a Whig, when I quote 
the language of Henry Clay: "If Kentucky unfurl to- 
morrow the banner of resistance, I loill not fight under thai 
flag. I owe allegiance to my native State, but I owe a 
paramount allegiance to the United States Govern- 
ment." 

If it were recpiired, kSir, I could produce volumes of 
testimony to the bravery and efficiency of our colored 
soldiers. General Hunter, in speaking of the First 
Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, said: "I ani 
glad to be in the midst of you — glad to have seen so fine 
an exhibition of proficiency as you have shown tliis day. 
I only wish 1 had a hundred thousand of you to fight 
for the freedom of the Union." 



14 

Commodore Dupont wrote from Port Royal liia grati- 
tude to the contrabands who had rallied around him, and 
his declaration is : " They serve us with zeal, make no 
bargains for their remuneration, go under tire without 
the slightest hesitation, and, indeed, in our cause are as 
^insensible to fear ' as Governor Pickens. Some of them 
are very intelligent." 

At Wagner, when the gallant Shaw, of the Fifty- 
fourth Massachusetts, fell with his feet to the foe and 
his back to the field, a black sergeant, wounded and 
bleeding, dragged himself forward when the color bearer 
fell, and, Avrapping the flag about his body, crawled back, 
amid a deadly rain of artillery ; and when he whispered 
to the white soldiers in the hospital, "I saved the flag," 
three cheers went up for the black sergeant of the Fifty- 
fourth. 

Let me assure the other side of the chamber that the 
reign of force is ended, and even chivalry begins to un- 
derstand that ideas rule the ivorld; civilization wrestles 
with prejudice as the angel of old wrestled with the pa- 
triarch, and prejudice will be smitten to the death. 

I oppose this bill because it is against the rights of 
mankind. The nation has outgrown the Dred Scott de- 
cision, and the conscience of the nation is at last satis- 
fied that God's lesson for America is that absolute jus- 
tice to the African in mental and moral emanciption to 
the white man. 

I beg leave to refer to George Bancroft's views upon 
the effort to betray the rights of man at the command of 
j)assion and prejudice. lie says : "That ill-starred dis- 
quisition is the starting point of tliis rebellion, which, 
for a quarter of a century, had been vainly preparing to 
raise its head. ' When courts of justice fail, war begins.' 
The so-called opinion of Taney, Avho I trust did not in- 
tend to hang out the flag of disunion — that rash ottence 
to the conscious memory of the millions — upheaved our 
country with the excitement which swept over those of 
us who vainly lioped to preserve a strong and sufflcient, 
though narrow^, isthmus that might stand between the 
conflicting floods. !No nation can adopt that judgment 



as its rule and live; the judgment has in it no elcmoi\t 
of political vitality. I will not say it is an invocation of 
the dead past ; there never was a past that accepted such 
opinions. If we want the opinions received in the days 
when the Constitution was framed, we will not take 
them second hand from our Chief Justice. We will let 
the men of tliat day speak themselves. How will our 
American magistrate sink when arraigned, as he will be, 
before the tribunal of humanity ! How terrible will be 
the verdict against him when he is put in comparison 
with Washington's political teacher, the great Montes- 
queiu, the enlightened magistrate of France, in what are 
esteemed the worst days of her monarchy ! 

" The arofument from the diiference of race which 
Taney thrusts forward with passionate confidence as a 
proof of complete disqualiiication, is brought forward by 
Montesquieu as a scathing satire on all the brood of 
despots who were supposed to uphold slavery as tolerable 
in itself. The lights op MANKIND — that precious 
word which had no equivalent in the language of Hin- 
dostan, or Judea, or Greece, or Rome, or any anti- 
Christian tongue — found their supporter in Washington 
and Hamilton, in Franklin and Livingston, in Otis, 
George Mason and (ladsden — in all the greatest men of 
our early history. 

"The one rule from which the makers of our first 
Confederacy, and then of our National Constitution, 
never swerved, is this : To fix no constitutional disabil- 
ity in any one. AVhatever might stand in the way of 
any man from opinion, ancestry, weakness of mind, in- 
feriority, or inconvenience of any kind, was itself not 
formed into a perfect disfranchisement. 

"The Constitution of the United States was made 
under the recognized influence of the eternal rule of 
order 'and right,' so that, as far as its jurisdiction ex- 
tends, it raised at once the numerous class who had been 
chattels into the condition of persons. It neither origin- 
ates nor perpetuates inequality." 

If the Constitution does not perpetuate inequality 
shall wo ? 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



jg 013 703 857 2 ^ 

Thomas Jcfterson said: "The opinion that they (the 
colored race) are inferior in the facnltics of reason and 
imagination must be hazarded with great diffidence." 
(Jefferson's Works, Vol. VIII., pp. 386.) He said after- 
ward : " I expressed these views, tlierefore, with great 
hesitation ; but, luhatever be their degree of talent, it is no 
measure of their right. Because Sir Isaac Newton was 
superior to others in understanding lie was not, there- 
fore, lord of the person and property of others." 

We are now paying the price of our national vices, as 
well as virtues. If this nation had been without virtues, 
we would possibly have been at peace, but it would have 
been the peace which follows dissolution and death. 

The monumetit at Bunker Hill stands for Prescott and 
Putnam and Warren, and it also stands for Salem, the 
colored man who shot the gallant Pitcairn as he mounted 
the parapet. 

Red Bank, in the Revolution, and Bladensburg and 
New Orleans, at a later day, attest the valor of the col- 
ored soldier. 

Our unfriendly legislation will not stay the eternal 
laws of order and right. Let us rather hasten the ad- 
vance of that day when we may " realize truth without 
suffering, and follow the triumphant road of justice with- 
out watering it with tears." The revolution through 
which we are passing is a necessary one, and if we are 
true to ourselves it will be one fortunate for all the 
world. Let us endeavor to elevate a race which for cen- 
turies has been despised, and in doing this we elevate 
ourselves. 

The struggle will soon be over. The right never fails 
in the eternal years of God. And this country will be- 
come what Garibaldi and Cavour dreamed that Italy 
might be. Privilege will no longer stalk in our streets, 
while justice speaks with "bated breath and whispering- 
humblances;" and as we look over this continent, we 
will say of our native land in the next four years that, 
"Under such an Administration as that of Abraham 
Lincoln this country will become what it ought to be, 
and what I believe its Divine Author intended it to be — 
not a vast plantation for the breeding of human beings 
for the purposes of lust and bondage, but a new valley 
of Jehosophat, in which the nations of the earth, ac- 
knowledging and worshipping a common God, will as- 
semble and celebrate the resurrection of human free- 
dom." 



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